Posted On 26 Nov 2020

Smartphones are becoming increasingly expensive, with top-end models now costing well over $1000. A good way of offsetting the cost of a new device is to either accept a trade in or sell your old device on eBay, Craigslist or similar marketplaces. However, you need to make sure that you’ve done the right thing with your data before disposing of your old device: follow the steps below to make sure you don’t lose anything you need or compromise your security.

Backup: make sure before selling your old device that you backed up all your data. On an iPhone you can simply choose the backup data option to save your data to the iCloud; with an Android phone you can save all your data into a computer using a USB cable. There are apps available to streamline the saving process if you need them.

Deactivate: ensure that you deactivate/deregister all your accounts from your device. This is particular important with iPhones, because if you haven’t deregistered the device its new owner may find themselves blocked from using it. Not only will this prevent any problems for the new owner, but it will stop them being able to accidentally or deliberately access your accounts.

Encryption: all iPhone data is encrypted by default, but on Android you must go to Settings/Security > Encrypt Device.This should be done before you delete your data, ensuring that even if something goes wrong with the deletion, nobody can access your data without the encryption key.

Erasure: if you have an iPhone, go to General >Settings >Reset >Erase All Content; on an Android device go to Settings > Privacy>Factory Data Reset >Reset Phone.

Remove SIM/SD cards: obvious, but it is surprising how many people don’t remember to remove SIM and SD cards before disposing of their smartphones. SD cards are particularly easy to forget, especially if they were installed with your phone when you bought it, but they may well contain data and images that you don’t want others to access.